By R.B. Fallstrom
The Associated Press
St. Louis – Rallying against 21-game winner Chris Carpenter, the Houston Astros edged closer to their second consecutive NL wild-card berth.
Morgan Ensberg had a tiebreaking double in the ninth inning, his fourth hit of the game, and the Astros beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-6 on Wednesday night to maintain a 2 1/2-game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies in the wild-card race.
“I feel like nothing has changed,” said Ensberg, who reached 100 RBIs for the first time in his major-league career. “We need to win (today) and keep on winning. I don’t look at it that we somehow did a great thing because of the win. It was necessary for us.”
With the score 6-6, Willy Taveras led off the ninth with his major league-leading 69th infield hit and scored without a play on Ensberg’s double into the left-field corner off Jason Isringhausen (1-2).
Houston swept a two-game series against the NL Central champions, finishing the season 5-11 against St. Louis, and will close the regular season with a four-game series at home against the Chicago Cubs starting today. The Astros were 6-3 on their final trip of the season.
“We’ve still got work to do,” Astros manager Phil Garner said. “Tomorrow is our biggest game of the year. Then, the next day will probably be even bigger.”
Lance Berkman and Mike Lamb homered in consecutive at-bats off Carpenter as the Astros improved to 87-71, a season-best 16 games above .500.
Chad Qualls (6-4) worked a perfect eighth, and former Cherry Creek High School athlete Brad Lidge finished for his 40th save in 43 chances.
Philadelphia (85-74) routed the New York Mets 16-6 and is off today. The Phillies finish with three games at Washington.
Reggie Sanders hit his first home runs since early July, connecting on consecutive at-bats for the Cardinals, who got another spotty outing from Carpenter. The Cardinals are 3-8 since clinching the division and must sweep a season-ending series at home against the Cincinnati Reds to give the franchise consecutive 100-win seasons for the second time, the first since 1942-44.
Sanders’ progress was about the only positive for the Cardinals, who have lost three in a row at home. He returned to the lineup Sept. 12 after missing 54 games with a broken leg, and has five RBIs in his past three games.
“That’s two huge hits,” manager Tony La Russa said. “That’s a good sign for us.”
Carpenter allowed six runs – five earned – and nine hits in six innings.
